The Complex Politics of a Spiritually Oriented Intentional Community

Abstract

Although the Community of Damanhur has already been the subject of a number of academic works, its political organization has mostly been neglected by academic studies. This chapter will try to fill the gap, by analyzing first the internal political organization of the community, which is quite elaborate and codified, and has endured several changes in the four decades of life of the community. The second part of the analysis will be focused on the relations of the community with ‘external’ political institutions, especially at the local level. The chapter is based on first- and second-hand materials and studies, and interviews with present and past leaders of the community. The results show that the institutional system of Damanhur mixes several different logics of governance, trying to strike a balance between the charismatic and the participatory elements, and between the need for institutionalization and the capacity to reinvent and reshape its institutions and rules; while in its relations with the Italian institutions and political parties the Community has displayed a complex strategy based on both its own local political movement and different types of relations with national parties and elected representatives.